"I must have been living under a rock for several years 'cause I just today discovered the band Turing Machine. I am now obsessed. Currently listening to Zwei. Amazing recording. Can anyone explain the music classification of "Math…"

"Currently listening to Elliott Smith self titled. Before that Andrew Bird "Break It Yourself" - absolutely amazing album as is the follow up that was just released. He just did a huge US tour and will be back in the spring so…"

"Just a small clarification. The Bible situatio in China is hardly as dire as most of us have been led to believe. Amity Press, the world's largest publisher, is in China and is printing literally millions of Bibles in Chinese for…"

"No offense Carl, and none meant to be given either. It's just that Muslims also say that the Koran is the Word of God, and, again no offense, why would your opinion weigh more than theirs?
And if you believe rules and rituals mean…"

"No, There is little to no persecution of Christians in western society, And i think its a bad thingPaul the apostle went into towns were it was likely he would be killed or imprisoned and preached the gospel.Us westerners say we are a christian and…"

"A long time ago, I heard a preacher put it like this: It's hard to be a Christian and live for God "easy"; it's easy to be a Christian and live for God "hard". When you've sold-out-the-whole-route and you're…"

"I'm an old guy "70" and have known the Lord for most of my life. The first half I would agree that it was difficult and I failed badly (so I thought). When I was in my mid 30ies I quit trying! I also redefined what it "Living a…"

"Well, you could always do what my parents did when they got married. The wedding was at my grandparent's home, which was normal in those days. There were about 40 close family and friends there. The reception followed with…"

John Clanton's Blog

We had a debrief meeting at the end of the India mission while we were in Hyderabad. During the meeting, we spent time talking about how we had changed, what we had learned and where we thought God was calling us. At the very end, we wrote a letter to our future selves. On Friday, I got home from summer camp and had that letter waiting for me. It was an interesting time to get the letter. Here’s the letter. I wonder how I stack up to my past self.…

I'm sorry for such a long time between the last blog and this one (almost two months!). I have been busy and lazy and all of the above. I WILL finish up chronicling this journey. It's important to me. I just hope that I can continue to find time to work on it. I hope you enjoy this one. It's about a life-changing moment. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I should get them soon. They're "lost" for right now.…Continue

Our outreach the previous night ended a little later than other events, but Team B’s lasted even longer. At around 2 AM, team leader Craig walked into our room (someone happened to leave the door unlocked) and told me that their outreach had run long and that I was to wake everyone up an hour later. I said that I understood and immediately went back to sleep. I slept a little later than I would have normally then got up and took a shower. I then went out to wake… Continue

I want to start out by apologizing for the lack of blogs. I have been rather busy lately, and these posts have gone by the wayside. I want to finish them up, and WILL do it. I apologize in advance for the lack of details in certain parts and the lack of enthusiasm that might be there. It WAS three months ago and life has started to change. I hope these are still as entertaining as the first ones…

I’m usually self conscious about things I say or do. I worry about if I’ll look like an idiot. Does this make me look dumb? Is this too forward? Is this the right thing to do? Preparing for my mission to India, I talked with my mentor, Jonny, about my opportunity to preach. One thing I mentioned was that I wasn’t worried about how I would look to the Indians when I preached. I was more worried about how my team would receive me. I was worried about what the… Continue

We got back from Suresh’s and had plenty of time to kill. This is was the first day that wasn’t packed from beginning to end, and we truthfully didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We gathered up a few people, including team leader Lorae, and decided that we wanted to walk down to a vendor and buy some soda. The walk wasn’t far. The streets were crowded with people walking about their business. We walked by people trying to sell their wares, shops where metal… Continue

I woke up the next morning. It was the fourth day waking up in India, so I had my routine down. I showered in a bucket, woke everyone up, wrote in my journal and read my Bible, and then went up to the roof for worship and devotional. Worship was different because we learned new songs for when we would be doing Vacation Bible School the next Monday. After the devotional, the team talked about how we’d been scolded the previous day and the manner in which it was… Continue

We left the red light district and drove back the way we had come. It was only about ten minutes before we turned from the main road into a smaller neighborhood. The roads were definitely not paved and at one point we drove down a road that was much too narrow for our car. We had to back up and go another way. After driving around the small neighborhood for a few more minutes we finally pulled up to a larger road with Team A’s cars parked at the end of it. We got… Continue

After the Dalith clothing giveaway, we were in the cars and on our way to the next event: free saris at a church in the largest red light district in Andhra Pradesh. As always, we had no idea how long the drive would take, or where we were going. Both teams drove for about twenty minutes or so and pulled off the road into a walled compound. We were at the Harvest India School for the Dalith. We got out of the cars and Pastor Suresh began to tell us about the… Continue

After getting in the previous night around 2 AM, I was grateful to be able to sleep in an extra hour. I woke up in the morning, took my cold bucket shower and then went and woke everyone up. After waking everyone up, I spent some time in my room journaling about the previous night. New Year’s Eve was a great experience and I was glad that I was able to do it. I continued to pray that I would make the most out of every experience in India. I have a problem with… Continue

Actually, some advice for when you get back (or for your mother's birthday, whichever comes first): Lighter-colored roses don't last as long. Also, the real key to long-lasting cut flowers is the health of the stems. The fewer scratches, bruises, etc., the better. Smooth (except for the thorns) and green is best. Forgot all this when buying those from a usually EXCELLENT florist.

Very true. Back when I got it it was the only thing they were making at the time. I think my next project will be a Speeder Bike Trooper. Plus you can sit in it :) The clone troopers are pretty bad ass to even though I didn't care for the new movies. Lot's to choose from. Maybe I'll upgrade to a sandtrooper but like you I can't justify the cost anymore.

"Agreed. James makes it clear that God does not tempt us with evil.
Would love to comment on this more but I have a job that I'm responsible for right now. Let's just say that if you keep Job 1:3 in context of the rest of the book of Job…"

"Jack and Al, despite your best intentions, I'm afraid that your words will fall on deaf ears and/or blind eyes. Applying the logic or reason of mainstream Christianity in a context where your interlocutor has rejected the logic and reason of…"